THE OTTAWA NATURALIST 



VOL. XXV. OTTAWA, FEBRUARY, 1912 No. 11 



THE MYXOMYCETES OR SLIME-MOULDS OF THE 

 OTTAWA DISTRICT; A PRELIMINARY LIST. 



By J. W. Eastham, Assistant Botanist, Division of 

 Botany, C.E.F.. Ottawa. 



For some time past the writer has given such attention as 

 was possible to the study of the plants' known by the names of 

 Mvxomycetes, ,Mycetozoa, and Slime Moulds, and on coming 

 to reside at Ottawa in the spring of last year decided to collect 

 and study as thoroughly as the pressure of other duties would 

 permit, the representatives of the group to be found in the 

 locality, in the hope that after a few seasons' work a fairly good 

 knowledge of the Mvxomycetes of the local flora might be 

 obtained and the enquiry extended into a wider field. 'This 

 seemed a desirable object for two reasons. In the first place 

 one or two preliminary collecting trips seemed to indicate that 

 the neighbourhood would prove rich in these organisms, and 

 secondly, there seemed a need for the study of our Canadian 

 species. While no very exhaustive search has been made 

 through the literature of the subject , yet, incidentally, a good 

 many works and papers have been consulted, and so far only 

 one reference to a paper dealing with Canadian species, either 

 from a local or a general standpoint, has been noticed, namely 

 a paper by Mr. C. L. Moore on the Mvxomycetes of Pictou Co., 

 N.S. (1908). Some rather interesting data are, furthermore, 

 to be obtained from Prof. Macbride's "North American Slime 

 Moulds", the standard work on the American forms. In this 

 work about 220 species are described as occurring in North and 

 Central America, and of these about 127 are recorded from 

 New England and New York State, an area contiguous with 

 that of Eastern Canada. In the same work, however, only 

 about 25 species are mentioned as known to occur in Canada, 

 and two of these are from western localities. As there seems 

 no good reason for supposing Eastern Canada to be greatly 

 poorer in species than the adjacent territory to the south, it 

 might have been inferred that even a very cursory examination 

 of the district would result in extending our knowledge of the 



